Comments on: Commentary: Is Woodinville the new Walla Walla?

By: Nancy H.

Nancy H. — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:56:30 +0000

Woodinville is Wonderful! While I love to make the trek to Walla Walla, the ease of Woodiville can’t be denied. In addition to the wonderful wineries and tasting rooms, Woodinville is home to Molbaks, one of the largest retail nurseries in the U.S. The incredible Herbfarm restaurant, the plush Willows lodge and an assortment of eateries ranging from the Barking Frog and Purple Cafe to the Redhook Brewery and Italianissimo. And please do not refer to our slough as “sluggish”. This meandering waterway has a great deal of history and even saw steamship traffic at one point in it’s evolution. Today the slough is a major route of our local salmon and a pleasant side kick to our suburban bike trail system.

By: Catie

Catie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:41:54 +0000

Thanks Heather for bringing this out in the open. Good food for thought.

By: Denise

Denise — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:15:18 +0000

Good perspective and one of the first I have read on the topic. Well, the jury is out on this development to be sure. Of course, as a fellow winemaker, I wish any Walla Walla winery success in a west side tasting room. It’s a business decision and one that comes with its own set of business headaches. But there’s an upside and it’s simply more exposure for the region. Walla Walla is a great destination and not so terribly hard to get to if you are really looking to unplug and have a wine tasting experience that you simply can’t get in a satellite branch. There’s so many appealing wines that don’t get across the Cascades largely because the economics don’t work in our favour. Would I like my wines to be poured in a Woodinville tasting room? You betcha! But in the meantime, I will be delighted to host any west side (north, south or east for that matter!) wine taster who takes the time to visit…Cheers!

By: David H

David H — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:34:51 +0000

Interesting article, good to get the Walla Walla perspective.

As a Seattle-based wino who has been coming to Walla Walla twice a year for about 12 years (including this coming weekend) I’ve also watched this development in Woodinville wineries with some trepidation. I love my trips to Walla Walla, and they feel special because of the effort involved. If all the wineries will offer a presence (and the same winery-only wines) just a few miles away from me this specialness is reduced from my perspective.

I realize that the likes of Cayuse and Abeja will never come over, so that is good, but the experience for me is also about finding those new winery gems. Let Woodinville be about DeLille and Betz, which are superb in their own right.

Even if you do open this side of the mountains, try and make sure there is a big enough draw and stickiness to attract us to continue to make the trip.